Indiana couple reunites amid terror at Boston Marathon

Scott Bowman was waiting for wife at finish line when explosions went off

UPDATED 7:38 PM EDT Apr 18, 2013

INDIANA, Pa. -

Scott Bowman doesn't know if the woman who gave up her spot for him along the finish line at the Boston Marathon was a guardian angel or not, but he's forever grateful she did.

Bowman and friend Cathy Swauger were cheering on their spouses on Monday afternoon when they contemplated moving closer to the finish line so they could get a better view. It was then that a woman generously offered them her spot. About two minutes later, the first of two explosions at the marathon went off.

"I don't know if that lady in the purple was an angel or not, but I'm blessed she gave up her spot so that I could stand where she was at. Had she not given up her spot, Cathy and I were going to move another 20 or 30 feet to the right so that we could see around the trees a lot better, and that's where it went off," Bowman told Channel 4 Action News.

The blast sent Bowman and Swauger to the ground.

"About 10 seconds later, the second explosion occurred, which we knew right away those were bombs going off and it wasn't a cannon or anything like that. It was pretty horrific," he said.

The explosion deafened Bowman in one ear while he tried to navigate through the dust and smoke.

"After we got up after the second blast, I looked back, and right beside me was a guy's leg laying there. There was blood everywhere. That's how close we were to the explosion," Bowman said.

Less than a mile to a mile and a half down the course was his wife, Aileen Bowman, when she heard the explosion.

"I remember thinking, 'I've never heard something like this before,'" said Aileen Bowman, who was participating in the marathon for the third straight year.

"It almost sounded like a cannon. I thought, 'OK, I know they don't have cannons at the finish line. And I kind of said something to the people around me, like, 'that was kind of weird. I wonder what that was?' And then 10 seconds later, there was another loud bomb. At that point, I saw white smoke rising from buildings. Then I knew something wasn't good," she recalled.

Aileen Bowman thought something exploded, but she didn't suspect it was a bomb at first. She said runners continued a little bit further on the course until emergency personnel stopped them about six blocks from the finish line.

They weren't immediately aware of what had transpired, but runners with cellphones on them began making calls. Aileen Bowman had difficulty reaching her husband and friends.

"Of the six of us from Indiana, all I could think of was, 'I'm the only one that's standing here surviving this,' and it was very horrifying to feel that, maybe, all five of my family and friends that were up there were possibly affected by the blast," she said.

While heading back toward the buses, she caught a relieving glimpse of Swauger.

"And right beside her was my husband. It was the best feeling to see them. We all just kind of ran to each other and gave each other a big hug," she said.

All six members of their group were OK and eventually reunited.

"God was watching over me that day and he was watching over our families," said Scott Bowman.

The Bowmans stayed at their hotel on Monday night and returned home to Indiana on Tuesday. They're planning to run in the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 5.

"We've been asked before by some people, 'Are you scared?' And I tell them, 'You can't be scared. You have to just go about your life,'" said Scott Bowman.